In the past, circular arrangements or patterns of paving stones have been made by craftsmen employing cutting and shaping tools on natural stone. In today's world however, the assembly of a paving stone arrangement is this manner is far too costly and labour intensive. Today's paving stones are generally pre-cast concrete or some other material made in molds of discrete forms.
To date no one has been able to construct a circular paving stone arrangement without having large gaps between adjacent sides of some of the paving stones. The problems associated with large gaps between adjacent sides of paving stones are two fold. Firstly, the sand or other particulate filler placed between the paving stones during construction is easily washed away by rain, snow and wind. Secondly, various bodily injuries have occurred particularly to persons wearing slim high-heeled shoes which get caught in the gaps between adjacent stones. Thus municipalities, public buildings and the like, in recent years, have been reluctant to use circular paving stone arrangements because the gaps between the paving stones are a potential source of liability.
It is possible to form a circular paving arrangement using dozens of different shaped blocks wherein the gap between adjacent sides is reduced. However, the cost and complexity of not only producing the molds for dozens of such blocks, but also the costs of arranging them in the correct sequence is overwhelming.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to produce a circular paving stone arrangement using a minimal number of shapes of paving stones which can be assembled quickly and easily by a workman with minimal skills.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide two new fan-shaped paving stones which will permit the assembly of a circular paving pattern.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a circular paving stone arrangement wherein the gaps between adjacent sides of adjacent blocks or stones are minimal so as to prevent injury to pedestrians, and more particularly, to persons wearing high-heeled footwear.